This is the last G.O for land acquisition on the project. May be ranjith and ging can throw more light on this. Does this G.O covers from last pillar to st.thomas mt?
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Very good catch Arul Murugan. I do not know the exact survey numbers or the property details mentioned in both the GOs. However, with the help of ‘Land use Maps’ of CMDA and some details in the respective GOs, I could infer certain things. GO of May 17thLA is notified in GO for two areas viz, Madipakkam village and Adambakkam village (ward F) and it is for ‘Mass Rapid Transit System R T S Station for Puzhuthivakkam….’. In ward F map of CMDA, this appears to be the place where station construction work is in progress. GO of Feb 11LA is notified in the GO for Alandur Town (ward E) for Blocks 2,7,8,9 for ‘the purpose of implementation of Mass Rapid Transit System alignment…..’. In ward E map of CMDA, the alignment is marked passing through these Blocks. Request Ging to correct me, if I am wrong.For Adambakkam station, major part is in Ward F, a small portion covering 3 pillars are on lake in ward E.

But, I don't recall seeing any 4i notice for Adambakkam Station at Vanuvampet yet.

PS: Its a pity that, the tender for Adambakkam Station was released & awarded in Jan /Feb 2010 itself in a mega hurry. This was even while the location of station itself was on a ping-pong - shifts happened from Vanuvampet to Thillai Ganga nagar temple area & back, thanks to an ex-Parlimentary contestant from this locale.

The MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) services are likely to be extended to Adambakkam by mid-2012.

This emerged following a high-level coordination committee meeting on Thursday. Various issues concerning the extension of service from Velachery were discussed threadbare and officials of many agencies, including Chennai Corporation, Railways, PWD, CMDA, promised to resolve them by improving coordination. The meeting agreed on the rearrangement of the layout of the Inner Ring Road beneath the proposed Adambakkam MRTS Station. It was decided to maintain the road width there at 26 metres, against the 30.5 metres, on other stretches of the IRR. As a result, the stretch below the station would be a four-lane road, whereas the rest of the IRR would be six-lane. The decision would avoid the need for acquisition of more land by the Highways.

According to officials, the decision to rearrange the layout of the IRR has cleared the bottlenecks in the partial completion of phase II of MRTS. However, extension of the MRTS up to St.Thomas Mount may take time on account of court cases.

Adambakkam is 2 stations after Velachery (Puzdhivakkam & Adambakkam) and I think it is possible at current speed of the project. The LA problem is after Admbakkam. Something is better than nothing. Really strange that both Central & State Govt are notkeen in clearing the LA issue. Might be politicians from both parties are losing land.

The MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) services are likely to be extended to Adambakkam by mid-2012.

This emerged following a high-level coordination committee meeting on Thursday. Various issues concerning the extension of service from Velachery were discussed threadbare and officials of many agencies, including Chennai Corporation, Railways, PWD, CMDA, promised to resolve them by improving coordination. The meeting agreed on the rearrangement of the layout of the Inner Ring Road beneath the proposed Adambakkam MRTS Station. It was decided to maintain the road width there at 26 metres, against the 30.5 metres, on other stretches of the IRR. As a result, the stretch below the station would be a four-lane road, whereas the rest of the IRR would be six-lane. The decision would avoid the need for acquisition of more land by the Highways.

According to officials, the decision to rearrange the layout of the IRR has cleared the bottlenecks in the partial completion of phase II of MRTS. However, extension of the MRTS up to St.Thomas Mount may take time on account of court cases.

They're just trying to get this over with and do not want to attempt any complex acquisitions or anything.

most of chennai roads including the GST suffer mainly because, the road width keeps on fluctuating. Still, the same thing is repeated here. The station will become a bottleneck. Already, there'll be more pedestrians from the station, roadside shops catering to them, autos etc. On top of it, road width will suddenly reduce there.

I guess, they've done it to avoid acquiring the land nearby and just get the thing done even by occupying the rightful road space.

Very good catch Arul Murugan. I do not know the exact survey numbers or the property details mentioned in both the For Adambakkam station, major part is in Ward F, a small portion covering 3 pillars are on lake in ward E.

so it is not about Adambakkam to St.thomas mt stretch? we can assume then 0% progress for last 500m.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murali Bala

Adambakkam is 2 stations after Velachery (Puzdhivakkam & Adambakkam) and I think it is possible at current speed of the project. The LA problem is after Admbakkam. Something is better than nothing. Really strange that both Central & State Govt are notkeen in clearing the LA issue. Might be politicians from both parties are losing land.

but how far is the construction of Puzhdivakkam and Adambakkam stations? Mid of 2012 is un-realistic for SR.

Mid of 2013 completion of stations and laying of tracks, signal etc., 2013 end CRS inspection and 2013 Dec opening.

But looking at progress, as one of the media warned, I guess last 500m stretch may see a death bell as no one is interesting in the link.

Its a 24/7 job Lakshmi is dealing with. Each day she wakes up to an estranged room, she quickly turns into her working space. Lakshmi is ticket cashier at one of the MRTS stations and has been the only one at this station over the last 3 years. Commuters have to walk all the way from the other side from the stations entrance, through dark hallways smelling of urine and make their way through a maze of puddles of water leaking from the ceilings, in order to reach her counter. She counts about 50 of them each day. Last year she asked the officials to provide her counter with reinforced cast iron bars , to make her feel safe during the night when she sleeps. On several occasions she has been witness to criminal activities and sexual herassement behind the stations massive conncrete walls.

In the course of the German Indian year 2011/2012 the Goethe Institute Chennai aproached the Habitat Forum Berlin to conduct a workshop ("Human Space – Cultural Space“) with post-graduate architecture students of the ANNA University Chennai. The aim of this workshop was to analyse the 18 completed stations of the MRTS under different parameters and their relationship to the surrounding neighbourhoods, aswell as the effects on the people using this modern form of public transportation.

First plannig stages of the MRTS Line date back to the 80s but wasn´t started being constructed for ten years. As for now the line runs from Chennai Beach to Velachery encompassing 18 stations in total. The trains run from 5 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., usually every 15 minutes.

It probably is safe to say, that most of the people from Chennai have rather encountered these collosal structures from the outside, as opposed to actually entering them, since the number of commuters is less than ten percent of the once calculated 7 lakhs on a daily basis.
The lack of ongoing connectivity to other transportation systems, poorly maintained stations and simple city-planning mistakes are the obvious reasons why the MRTS is everything but appealing to most of the inhabitants of Chennai.

But there is more to that. It is also the hopelessly oversized dimension of many of these stations. It´s the foul Buckingham canal trashed and smelling awful, that runs along long stretches of the MRTS route. It´s the abscence of amenities within the stations, not even a bottle of water can be acquired in quite a few of them.

Although the trains run on a quite regular basis and dont need to fear any traffic jam, it seems a lot of people prefer using their twowheeler or car facing an hour worth of travelling time, while the MRTS may cover the same distance in about 15 minutes.
But howcome these spaces evoke a feeling of discomfort? What are the factors, that scare the commuters off?
Questions like these the students of the ANNA Univerity were adressed with and had to figure out on their own. The outcome of these studies poses a disturbing picture.

In order to take on any task of improving issues concerning the structure of a city, one has to understand the city as a whole. It is a deeply woven fabric that acts on multiple layers, lively, organic, interdependant and individually different from any other city. It is a constant process of growth and decay. But mainly it is home to the inhabiting people, all the people that is.
For this reason it was of vital importance for the students to go out into the city and encounter the people all along the Chennai MRTS. Interviews, rythmanalasis & mental maps drawn by several commuters are basic tools, in order to get a grasp of what the concerns and opinions are and how they percieve and behave in these spaces.
Nowadays architecture is often designed and towns are being planned over monitors in offices, automaticly loosing touch with the essence of what the city consists of. In this case the usual outcome are nicely designed building renderings and well organised town-planning maps, yet the value is no more than phantatsic dreams – able to prevail on paper but liable to fail in reality.
The problematic issues the Chennai MRTS is facing are not to unfamiliar to the burgeoning megacities of India. Conflicting economic interests, social inbalances, and a lacking sense of responseability and seeing infrastructural projects to the end.
It is not surprising with the upcoming middle-class and their growing desire to new cars and motorcycles, being somewhat to vain to use public transportations, that the trains aren´t to popular for the crowd it once aimed to reach.
At what point in planning was it determined that there was a need for the outsized stations on the MRTS, how was the space and demand for comercial use calculated?

The MRTS has apparently given up on the idea of promoting these empty spaces to any form of activity, or improving the situation. If that is true, it is clearly time for a new agenda. Any number of ideas could be explored. Commercial concepts could include venues for entertainment, such as music concerts as Kasturba Nagar, or what about paintball complex at Madaveli? Badly needed social welfare concepts could also be incorporated, using the space to benefit the city’s poor. A new generation of urban planners must come up with the answers.
The solution wont be found, hidden somewhere outside of Chennai.
Neither Delhi nor Singapore will provide a system that could be implemented in this perticular city. Same counts for the newly planned monorail or metro line.
Instead of facing the truth the MRTS has to offer, any steps taken to implement new transportation systems are a blindfolded and superficial approach to solving this urban problem.

Rather listen to and incorperate what the people of Chennai demand. Maybe minor changes or interventions like a lightbulb here and there, a newspaperstand and a bit more sation staff is all it takes to attract more commuters

A skywalk connecting Chintadripet and Chepauk MRTS stations is on the anvil. The facility would run across Anna Salai and have additional ramps for access to the proposed multi specialty hospital in the Omandurar government estate.

Railways would study the feasibility of the project shortly. The skywalk is one of the proposals made by a high level committee on MRTS to improve services on the Chennai Beach-Velachery network.

According to sources, who attended the meeting, MRTS is all set for an overhaul with various line agencies stepping up efforts to improve it. Chennai Corporation, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Public Works Department and the Railways would soon undertake feasibility studies for implementing projects that would improve the delivery of services pertaining to MRTS.

Link roads for MRTS near stations such as Triplicane, Indira Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur and Perungudi would be constructed by Chennai Corporation. Stormwater drains and street lights in the link roads would be provided by the Corporation.

The Railways would complete works intended to improving the aesthetics of the MRTS stations.

Measures for ensuring security and sanitation would soon be in place.

The PWD would remove encroachments on the approach road to Kotturpuram MRTS Station. Around 90,000 commuters use the MRTS services from Chennai Beach to Velachery per day.

Last edited by ging11; November 19th, 2011 at 05:30 AM.
Reason: CTRL+V error

Is this 26 m width includes station usage? or is it just the overall road width?

evn other wise this width is good enough for 6 lanes.

even nhai standard for lane width is 3.5m. orr lane width as posted by arul is 3.5 m.

Even otherwise assuming 4 m reduction from 30, easily 5 lanes must be possible. let atleast one side be hassle free with 3 lanes.

I see very bad usage of space in our roads. They should know to make optimum usage of space.

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Kumar, I think you forgot the 10 meter wide MRTS pillar in the centre of the road and added to that tou will also have Admabakkam Station pillars on the ends. Getting 4 lane itself will be a little squeezy

it seems atleast some departments had meeting together and made minutes of meeting. as usual we can hope something they do and improve the MRTS. There was enough space available in perungudi stn for bus terminus and MTC should introduce AC bus from Perungudi-Kelambakkam with 5min freq and to stop private buses in OMR.

Kumar, I think you forgot the 10 meter wide MRTS pillar in the centre of the road and added to that tou will also have Admabakkam Station pillars on the ends. Getting 4 lane itself will be a little squeezy

+1.. As someone mentioned earlier, just next to the station entrance there would be an Auto stand (With a nameboard having Rajnikanth caricature on one side), so 1 more lane gone.. and if there are more than 5 autos and a few more ppl, there would be a mobile Tea shop (ThaLLu vaNdi) parked near by.. So effectively people would have to manage with 1.5 lanes on either side..

it seems atleast some departments had meeting together and made minutes of meeting. as usual we can hope something they do and improve the MRTS. There was enough space available in perungudi stn for bus terminus and MTC should introduce AC bus from Perungudi-Kelambakkam with 5min freq and to stop private buses in OMR.

This will be as usual samosa - Tea meeting . Nothing useful. Everyone will complain MTC is doing nothing for MRTS

Its very tight considering that the Adambakkam Station is at the intersection of the Medavakkam main road as well..

What happens to all the amenities for the station as per their original plan?
1. There was supposed to be 7.5 m road all around the station, parallel to the IRR (both sides) until Chidambaranar Street, thats gone?
2. The Ticket counter, wonder what happens to that, there were supposed to be 2 of them (1 Vanuvampet & other near parking area), thats gone?
3. DG, Toilets, HT Panel, Transformers, Fire Equipments, Septic tanks, Water sumps - where will all that go?
4. There was supposed to be a parking on the lake side adjacent to the Medavakkam road (opp Surendranagar 11th St), now you can't even put a 2 wheeler?
5. There were to be 4 ground level concorses &4 sets of elevators/ steps.. all these gone?

With zero progress on any LA around the station, even if this 270m station encroaches part of the IRR below .. it would be a challenge building a station without some of these basic amenities. I think we have got only part of the plan from the media. I would be damned if this station is anywhere close to ready by mid 2012.